Finland remains 6th in recent WEF competitiveness study

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According to the Global Competitiveness Report 2009-2010, released by the World Economic Forum (WEF), Finland took 6th place among the world’s most competitive economies with respect to the prospects for economic growth.
      Switzerland, 2nd last year, now tops the overall ranking, while last year’s number one the United States falls one place to second position. Singapore remained in 3rd, while Sweden took 4th place and the 5th spot went to Denmark.
     
The Geneva-based WEF, best known for its annual meeting in Davos, comments on the success of the Nordic countries, saying that their macroeconomic stability is their chief asset.
      The budgets of the three Nordic countries are showing a surplus, while their public debt is low.
      According to the WEF, not even the financial crisis has had any impact on Finland’s ranking in the competitiveness study.
      Among those who have been hardest hit are Iceland, Latvia, and Russia. The Russian Federation slipped from 51st to 63rd, while Latvia plunged 14 places to 68th.
     
According to the WEF survey, Finland and its Nordic neighbours have the best institutions in the world.
      Moreover, Finland as well as Sweden and Denmark continue to have the world’s best education level.
      The WEF states further that the Nordic workforce is able to adjust to changing circumstances rapidly, which explains the high level of technological readiness and innovations.
      The survey says that the large difference between the three Nordic countries lies in the labour market efficiency.
      Denmark continues to have one of the most flexible and efficient labour markets, while Finnish and Swedish companies are allowed less flexibility when it comes to wages and salaries.
     
The WEF report describes Finland as an innovation-driven economy, the weakness of which lies in its restrictive labour regulations.
     
The rankings are calculated from both publicly available data and the Executive Opinion Survey, a comprehensive annual survey conducted by the World Economic Forum together with its network of partner institutes (leading research institutes and business organizations) in the countries covered by the report.
      The Executive Opinion Survey involved 1,300 corporate executives. A total of 70 per cent of the results are based on the replies given by these executives, in other words the ranking is highly dependent on the comments given.
      It came as no surprise that Finnish business executives named the country’s high tax rates and the shortcomings in its financial market as the main problems.
     
However, in the view of Research Director Petri Rouvinen from ETLA (the Research Institute of the Finnish Economy), the principles of the ranking involve some serious problems.
      ”As I have said before, the results are to be regarded as not much more than light entertainment, as the margin of error is 5 to 10 places in one direction or another”, Rouvinen notes.
     
ETLA is one of the partners assisting the WEF to conduct the annual survey among corporate executives, involving a total of 53 Finnish respondents this year.
      From a list of 15 factors, respondents were asked to select the five most problematic for doing business in their country/economy and to rank them between 1 (most problematic) and 5.
      The WEF comparison covers 133 countries.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland heads WEF competitiveness league table for fourth time (29.9.2005)
  New methodology sends Finland down to 6th on WEF competitiveness list (1.11.2007)
  Finland finishes second in WEF competitiveness report (27.9.2006)

Links:
  World Economic Forum press release: Switzerland replaces United States at top of competitiveness rankings

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